Grad School, Fellowships and Debt, Oh My!

Change is always afoot and this summer is no exception. The big news is that I’ve decided to join the debtor nation and I’m going to grad school. After looking at several International Relations programs around the country I decided on Johns Hopkins SAIS, and will be starting on their Bologna, Italy campus in late September. My second year will be in Washington, D.C. SAIS was kind enough to let me start a month late so I could finish a Fellowship program in Bangkok (Guess the exorbitant tuition cost is all that matters!). So that’s the other big news: I received an international Rotary Fellowship to study Peace and Conflict Studies in Bangkok, Thailand. The three-month intensive course is for mid and upper level professionals who work with conflict in one way or another. I am currently the only American to be chosen for the program and because I’m a dual citizen I’m apparently also representing France! I find that very funny… and also disconcerting. While I may be the only American this time around, this has to change. Now more than ever it is important for the rest of the world to see that there are Americans who are dedicated and in fact devoted to finding peaceful resolutions to world conflicts. Research this fellowship, apply or find other worthy applicants, and follow this blog site. I hope to be updating it on a consistent basis.

For better or worse, the Rotary website has posted the mugshots of the 17 participants. http://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/rpcsp/index.html. It’s a pretty grim looking lineup photographically (except for Patel. Good going!) but I’ll be sure to add a more human touch soon. Perhaps the karaoke night shots, the field trips, the heated classroom discussions... I’m looking forward to it all.

I’m also looking forward to my pre fellowship adventures: En route to Thailand I’ll be stopping in Beirut, Lebanon for five days where I’ll catch up with Nadeem and the boy band!! and then a day in Dubai with my friend Chris, a diplomat I met in Baghdad. Chris will be heading back to grad school as well -- coincidentally, to SAIS. Great minds, etc. etc. But he’ll be in DC.
So you see, the world really isn’t so big afterall.

A brief aside: Given the above described projects, as well as a small family matter, I was forced me to cancel my trip to Nigeria, which would have been my second venture into training African journalists. The “Great Black One” or GBO, and I (the “Great White One” or GWO) will certainly reunite at a later date for there is much work to be done in the creation of true democracies.